Expression Cloning Based on Anthropometric Proportions and Deformations by Motion of Spherical Influence Zones

Abstract

Virtual tridimensional creatures are active actors in many types of applications nowadays, such as virtual reality, games and computer animation. The virtual actors encountered in those applications are very diverse, but usually have humanlike behavior and facial expressions. This paper deals with the mapping of facial expressions between virtual characters, based on anthropometric proportions and geometric manipulations by moving influence zones. Facial proportions of a base model is used to transfer expressions to any other model with similar global characteristics (if the base model is a human, for instance, the other models need to have two eyes, one nose and one mouth). With this solution, it is possible to insert new virtual characters in real-time applications without having to go through the tedious process of customizing the characters’ emotions.